The Lost Boys
by Memoria In Piscis Crusta
Summary: While staying in a strange town, evil strikes Duo Maxwell unluckily for evil, Duo Maxwell strikes back. Warnings for: vampires, cliches, and strange humour.


**Part the First**

Late at night – or early in the morning, depending on your perspective - Duo Maxwell, covered in blood and grime, stumbled into his current safe-house. Wild wisps of hair escaped from his severely frazzled braid, haloing his haggard face.

Duo clutched at the wall as he staggered his way to the living room, where he quickly collapsed into a conveniently locate couch. Opposite him, Quatre Winner looked up from his first edition of To Kill A Mockingbird, still awake because of the vastly differing time zones between his last and current safe-houses. He arched a pale golden, slightly-disapproving-but-mostly-amused eyebrow in Duo's general direction and questioned, "Had a good time again?"

Duo let loose a long, drawn-out groan and quietly died. Literally.

* * *

It should at this point be noted that Quatre was not at fault for not having realized his fellow pilots was sans pulse. While the blond multibillionaire could, and most often did, claim guilt for the most ludicrous of reasons (up to and including the lack of air in space), even he had to admit that it was Duo's own stupidity that landed him in the latest mess.

Besides, with what was to come for the next two weeks, Quatre would be finding many more sources of guilt. Surprisingly, not all of them would stem from Duo.

A peculiar quirk of the small town (which really should have been labeled as a village) Quatre and Duo were taking cover in was that most of its architecture was designed with the guiding principle of 'sunlight bad, gloom good.'

In retrospect, this would come to make much more sense.

As it was, it kept the living room Duo 'rested' in pleasantly dim and cozy – luckily so. Duo's corpse stayed sprawled across the couch for two days and a night. Quatre ignored him because it was actually fairly standard Duo-behaviour. Then, on the second night, Duo rose.

* * *

Normal people don't expect tales of supernatural beings to come true. They don't pause in the midst of their day and think, "Gee, I wonder if I'll become one of the living dead tonight." For the few who actually do, most don't carry this thought process any further – they just laugh (or shiver) the notion away and return to their regularly scheduled lives. Most certainly do _not_ make contingency plans in the remote event that it does occur.

Duo has never fit into the category of 'most'.

So when on the second night of his death he walked into the bathroom and failed to see a reflection, he didn't scream, faint, or otherwise make a scene. Instead he blinked, felt inside his mouth for significantly lengthened canines, and muttered, "Damn, it actually happened. Now I owe G fifty creds."

After a shower to wash the crusted blood off, he went to the kitchen for breakfast – or, rather, dinner. Quatre was there already, laptop open and on, blond hair ruffled like a chick fluffing its feathers.

He looked up with bright blue eyes and beamed in Duo's direction. "Oh! You're awake! Are you hungry? I made omelettes a while ago."

Duo grinned back. "Yeah, thanks. That'd be great." His stomach growled loudly and he blushed. He really was hungry, so hungry it was giving him a headache. His temples became twin points of pain and his ears filled with a dull thud-thud-thud beat.

Yet when Quatre presented him with a plate of cooked egg, the smell was enough to make him gag. His stomach heaving, Duo sat down quickly and doubled over. Quatre leaned over him, anxiously questioning, "Are you all right?"

Duo nodded even as the thud-thud-thud sound grew louder in his head and threatened to drawn everything else out. Quatre's cautious hand on his shoulder startled him into looking up – but it was Quatre's neck rather than his face that caught Duo's attention… Quatre's long, pale, slender neck… graceful blue veins pulsing beneath flawless skin, skin begging to be pierced – blood waiting to be released…

It was surreal, but Duo could literally _feel_ his pupils dilate in desire – could _hear_ the thud-thud-thud of Quatre's pulse (which he dimly realized he'd been hearing all along). The little evil inner voice he'd long ago dubbed 'Shinigami' growled, **Do it – bite him now – taste his sweet, sweet blood.**

"_No_," Duo growled back, and thrust Quatre from him. Quatre stumbled backwards, colliding with the table and shaking to so much his laptop fell off and clattered to the floor.

In the confusion of Quatre rushing to make sure no files had been lost, for he'd bee in the middle of a very important data transfer, and simultaneously over his shoulder, "Duo! Don't move!", Duo did just that. He moved: off the floor, out of the kitchen, through the front door, and into the night.

The sky was pitch black and lit with the flickering fires of endless stars. A fresh wind blew across Duo's face, brining him scents he had never before noticed, and a bone deep thrill ran through him.

For all that he was (technically) dead, Duo felt extraordinarily alive.

* * *

Quatre could have sworn he was right behind Duo as he followed his fellow pilot outside. Sure, he had taken a second to ensure his computer wasn't broken – it had information on their newest mission, after all – but after he'd done that, he was right on Duo's heels.

Yet when he stepped barefoot on the dewy shadowed lawn, Duo was nowhere to be seen; was, in fact, entirely gone.

Quatre frowned. Even if Duo were characteristically erratic, this was too much. It was time to call in the other pilots.

* * *

In the tradition of one of my favourite manga-ka's, I will from now on label author notes as:

**Ultra Special Blah Blah Blah #1!**

So, for this fanfic I wanted to go the long-travelled route of vampire cliches. Here's hoping I reach new heights of overused plot devices! I know that right now this story will have a peculiar sort of humor, the kind that doesn't make you laugh out loud so much as snort weirdly and think, "Huh. Funny." Except I don't think I can manage even that! ...A pity. I'm hoping people won't mind original characters, as this story will be chock full of them - don't worry, though! They won't be Mary-Sues of any variation. Updates will be semi-regular (check in once a week or every two weeks, or something like that).


End file.
